


Me'copaani and What Doesn't Happen

by anesor



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Light Angst, Fluff into angst, Gen, Teen Crush, passions make terrible Masters, things Anakin wants SO badly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28105719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anesor/pseuds/anesor
Summary: At the end of it, Anakin only desired simple things.  The story of Anakin Skywalker was the story of what he wanted during his life and how he dealt with those wants, or failed to deal with those wants' failure...
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12
Collections: Shadows of the Clone Wars (NaNo2020 short stories)





	1. Saber:

**Author's Note:**

> These wants are all snippet/cameos for these issues. Clearly, most get resolved somewhat.

“Are you sure you met real Mando mercs, Master Obi-Wan?” Young Anakin was pouting his way through his galactic cultures placement test.

Obi-Wan had been surprised how many bits of other cultures he had picked up on a slave world. He was well aware of the harsher and more violent aspects of slavery that had been an additional shock to him when he’d gone to Bandomeer. “Many of them. My Master, your Grandmaster now, Master Jinn and I were hunted by a terrorist group for an entire year as we protected that world’s Duchess. I even got a set of beskar armor of my own. I cannot wear it because people might think I was always looking out for their interests instead of being unbiased.”

“Wizard! But-” Anakin’s face scrunched up while looking for words. “You had real armor as a Padawan! Why am I stuck with only a training saber? That won’t even affect regular armor much, let alone beskar. Master Dralig said so. I need a real saber if I’m gonna be a real Padawan!”

Obi-Wan knelt on one knee to be at eye level. “You are a real Padawan already! How many Padawans at nine standard have defeated an invading force in orbit? Most Jedi don’t even become Padawans until they are about twelve standard. You’re going to be a hard standard to match for your own Padawan someday!”

Anakin’s eyes widened. “I’m gonna have my own Padawan some day? That is so wizard!”

Obi-Wan watched Anakin try to imagine being a link in a lineage.

Padawan Skywalker grinned like sunshine. “Then I need to get a _real_ saber so I’m ready sooner!

Obi-Wan swiped his hand down his face and covered his mouth to muffle the chuckle.


	2. Driving:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Driving is such a way to not panic other drivers is **so** boring for the former pod racer!

Anakin stood more upright in their fleeing air speeder and looked back at their pursuers. “Those vole terrorists are gaining on us, Master. Looks like it’s two vehicles and seven goons...”

Obi-Wan concentrated on driving through the deserted streets of Lemcranzt for the port. The mining negotiations had deteriorated considerably when the agent tried to lure the young Padawan; bribes of candy and electronics didn’t work.

Anakin wasn’t a _child,_ and laughed at them. Then he added something that was crude and in Huttese to the supposed aide.

The young woman was comely, appealing to most human teens. She may not have understood exactly what the Padawan said, but the lead negotiator claiming to speak for the voles did.

Apparently, she was his daughter as well.

A daughter who had never been named _shutta_ by a youth. An insult that was too much when many on both sides of the issue laughed too.

Then came the conflict itself when the hotel’s security was surrounded by agitators picketing each other and boiling into riot and violence. Seeking to get their way no matter the victims around them. The violence did nothing to calm tempers during negotiations, despite the Jedi’s calm. Evacuation forced the Jedi to leave the negotiating venue before the compromise had been announced, so tempers would cool.

When ‘peaceful’ and ‘benevolent’ crowd started shooting, any chance of a judgment against the mines disappeared. Usually mercantile were more cynical and exploitative, but Jedi knew not to assume...

As long as Anakin’s fans didn’t get clear shots…

“Master! Let me drive, they’re gaining on us.”

“You still drive like you’re in a pod racer! You’re not even old enough to be licensed here.”

“That means I _**know** _ how to drive at higher speeds!”

“...And you know how to crash too well! I haven’t forgotten that flight over…!”

“Master, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Trust me!”

Obi-Wan spared a glance back, and the other vehicles were closer… “Fine! But if I die in a crash, I will somehow come back from the Force and haunt you!”

Scrambling to switch places, let their foes get closer, but the gap quickly opened up…


	3. Freedom from Coercion:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There more ways to take away choices than just slavery...

If Obi-Wan would have had the choice, even a viable excuse, he would have turned down this mission. This was a mining planet, barely habitable, that supplied both raw ore and quality hull and heavy partly finished components for all the major shipyards. He knew the Aethersprites they were slated to be assigned in the next year would use these materials.

But, the system did practice a kind of indentured service in the planet’s mines and factories that resembled slavery more than his Padawan of more than five years would take well. The workers could walk away to other work and even other worlds, but the debts they or their parents racked up in the past could be earned off faster in hazardous work. They chose this through foolishness or determination.

But Anakin just wanted to burn it all down.

This was a negotiation that didn’t even directly involve the workers. It wasn’t the kind of expected militant mission that the Padawan preferred. Sometimes Obi-Wan worried that his Padawan would prefer to be a Journeyman Protector instead of Jedi-- his instincts during sparring and skirmishes were excellent.

But these negotiations had not deteriorated quite that badly yet.

Anakin was glaring toward the tower which held the luxurious suites and chambers for both the aggressively expanding mining consortium and the settled influence of the off-world shipyard.

The luxury did not hide that the negotiators for both sides were as adept at the nuts and bolts of their industry as making things fall the way they willed. Obi-Wan frankly wondered which side would first break law and custom

Or whether his Padawan would trigger another diplomatic incident.

Obi-Wan sighed.

“Master, can’t you see this is an unjust situation? They’re just arguing about profits and loads. None of these stupa give a kriff about the people working down in the fires of the mine control rooms or factories. The owners make them burn out their lungs instead of spending the money to use remotes!” Anakin’s hand clutched toward his saber.

“Calm down. We’re here to facilitate a deal between the two sides, not punish anyone because their system offends you. Do you realize they earn their freedom in a third of the time here? Not everyone has the chance to earn their freedom in a pod-race. The Master sent calm through their training bond.

Anakin stuttered from his anger. “I know they’re going to do something.”

Rubbing between his eyebrows at the start of a headache, Obi-Wan was dizzy with the inverted view from his Padawan days. “Which side? Have you _seen_ anything that is actionable?”

“No, no. But I know it’s coming.” 

“Then we wait.”

Anakin simmered when they took the lift down to the Chamber of Dealing, but looked doubtful when all the negotiators were quiet when the Jedi arrived.

The mining reps simmered to with a muted anger and stiff control. The shipyard were also quieter, without any big talk or threats now.

But there was gloating floating in the air.

“You gentle beings seem to have arrived early today,” Obi-Wan said with a smile he wasn’t feeling.

“We achieved a breakthrough in a late night session,” the Mining officer said with thin lips and far more bruised eyes than she had the day before.

“Our analysis found profit centers the mines were not taking advantage of. With our contract, they will have even greater profits,” The Comptroller smiled, looking cool even for this hot world. She was smaller too, but felt nothing like the Nabooan Queen.

_ -Master, the miners are so angry. They’re going to get violent.-  _ Anakin was ready to fight.

_-Hold._ _We should negotiate far more than we fight._ _-_ Obi-Wan delved deeper into the negotiators, looking for what was hidden.

The miner leader sat up straight. “Take them all: pawns and murderers, all of them.”

Anakin stood.

Panels opened with heavy mining droids, but the Shipyard reps laughed. “You brutish fools have sealed...”

“You poisoned us all to secure this deal! I don’t know how you did it, but I will not allow you to extort every bit of life from o f of us.” She coughed wetly. “Children have already died, and they are kept high and away from dangers. They have murdered us!”

A nakin went after the mining droids, who weren’t much in a  f ight. Obi-Wan sealed the room, feeling the desperation and despair in the miners.

Even as the droids were going down to Anakin’s excited and happy saber work , living guards encircled both groups. 

Obi-Wan crossed his arms and tapped his feet, marking the location of blasters.  _ -Anakin, get over by that table, we will disarm them all as soon as you’re done playing.- _

Even the shipyards people looked warily at the student Jedi after seeing him demolish the droids so quickly.

A long moment after Anakin came to a rest, panting only lightly, Obi-Wan scanned around the room. “So this new agreement was only a pretense This entire conference was to blackmail and bully the mines instead of negotiate in good faith?”

The now sallow mining rep pulled a small blaster, shakily.

Obi-Wan said, “Now, Padawan...” He pulled all the ship yard contingents and heard the oaths from the shipyard people as the Padawan yanked all the weapons away with more strength than finesse.

The miners  clutched harder and the leader collapsed, sobbing as their weapons landed by Obi-Wan’s feet.

“Now that this unpleasantness been interrupted, we will put the negotiations on hold to investigate the immediate charges.” Obi-Wan’s voice was neutral, even if his Padawan had a smirk. Taking the weapons would have backfired if they knew how strong the Force was.

“See! You see they are barbarians, threatening violence even unto Jedi!” The shipyard speaker was not hiding her satisfaction very well.

“Yes, I can see there is something very wrong with your opponent that was not there yesterday, and that her earlier words were coerced. Her group has been marked by a sudden illness, while you and ourselves are immune? That seems unlikely, but her charges can be easily disproven.  Do not fear, we will get to the bottom of this and report to the Senate and its technology and supply boards.”

Anakin would have preferred a bigger fight, but this would have to do for the Padawan.


	4. Knighthood:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin is very eager to become a knight after so many years as a Padawan. Really eager...

Anakin’s voice had changed and stopped changing months ago. He would be counted a full adult on many worlds now.

But the Jedi Order did not run on a timetable, students were deemed mature enough, ready enough for knighthood in twelve to fifteen years for humans. (somewhat scandalized Youngling rumor had it had been decades for Yoda) 

Today was just over the eleven year mark for the boy and he was pushing for that achievement and recognition. No matter how many times Obi-Wan reminded him that he had missed some six years of Initiate training so it would not be early, the Padawan was too convinced his sheer power was more important than education or judgment. 

“You’re just jealous, Obi-Wan. Not letting me progress because you weren’t a knight at even twenty-three!” Anakin snarled at him after closer sparring. Even in the short Padawan cut, Anakin’s hair was a fuzzy mess with streaks of oil most days.

Touching the young man’s shoulder, Obi-Wan towed him toward the bench to sit. “Anakin. You are a bright and powerful Padawan already, and you will be a Force for the Light to behold when you come into your own as a knight. But sometimes your forget your heart when angry and frustrated. Power can’t make you a better person, unless the Hutts have hidden their kindness from plain sight.”

“It just seems like I’ve been a Padawan for forever… half my life and nothing has really changed.”

Obi-Wan just stared at him with disbelief.

“Half my life!” Anakin offered again with a pout.

“Oh, Padawan...” Obi-Wan sighed. “I promised you could become a knight, but that involves so much more than using the Force or fighting with a light saber. In some ways those are the easiest things, because they have clear answers. It will come and you will be astounding...”

Pouting, Anakin said, “I am already astounding!”

“The way you crash vehicles without dying is miraculous, Padawan.


	5. Infatuation:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin's heart had not truly been engaged with any others as he grew up. His heart was set into the heavens...

Anakin switched off the holo, he’d already watched the feed several times through. He didn't have filters set to collect stories on that many subjects outside required classes. 

Himself and Obi-Wan, of course, even if stories about his early missions read more like fantasies than news stories. The correspondents thought all Jedi were sheltered and remote from… everything: politics and fighting and just talking. Anakin sure didn’t stare his belly button when not on missions. There was just too much to learn, even his Master was always learning.

Anakin also checked stories about his friend, Sheev. Oh, he had too many stories and official duties to read then all. Anakin collected the ones with atypical phrasing and connotation, like the time Jar-Jar tripped and fell thirty feet from the Chancellor’s Senate-pod. Or the analysis of the outrageous fashions that copied his robes. Sheev never said so, but Anakin was sure he amused himself but starting awful fashions like seeing Gungans in red, like some demented mummer costume.

He check the Republic feeds daily for news about Tatooine, but the Huts didn’t want anyone to know what they did outside their territories.

The last person he haunted the data streams for was his angel. She’d left her post as Queen, one of the greatest ever. But when he finally a got a copy of the high resolution holo of her inauguration to the Senate… he.

He…

Obi-Wan barely hid a smile when he saw Anakin watching the holo again.

Anakin wanted to see her again so badly. Even more perfect now. Her world healed by her tender hands, and her strong will to help rebuild all her peoples.

He was just afraid she would only ever see him as a scrabbly slave boy who thought she was only a handmaiden. How could he find an excuse to go see her?

Without his charming Master.

Anakin had seen that charisma work on too many people to take that charm lightly.


	6. Retribution:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin is karking _tired_ of all the sleemos who went after **his** Obi-Wan. And this was one time too many, so the assassin would not get the opportunity to laugh at all his Master had done. He could kriffing **join** Obi-Wan in the Force.

Anakin barely breathed as he raced his favorite speeder through the Coruscant sky toward the prison, hearing…  _him_ ... complain about Anakin's flying yet again.

Wetness was blown away from Anakin’s eyes where no one could see it.

He would never hear him complain again.

Never ask his insight about his own Padawan.

Never act and fight in such deep harmony in battlefields and up in orbit.

And it was all the fault of some sleemo who didn’t care about the war, didn’t care about all the civilians hurt in this kriffing war to prove something to the Chancellor, and didn’t care about anyone left behind and grieving by the murderer.

A _cowardly_ murder of a hut'uun that enraged Anakin’s troopers as well. If there was time, he’d call them in to help, they’d appreciate that.

But Anakin’s thoughts raced faster than his speeder. And he  _wanted_ to catch up with the escaping murderer.

He wanted to make sure Hardeen paid for making the  _best_ Jedi’s light go out.

He wanted to make the bounty-hunter’s go out too…

Accidentally, of course.

But Hardeen wasn’t alone and Anakin was nearly blinded by his rage and grief. Hardeen was so tough in hand-to-hand, too easily beating Anakin off, even without a saber or blaster that Anakin felt frustrated and  _**guilty** _ _that the sculag was going to get away._

The other prisoners were prepping an escape vehicle as Anakin wanted one more chance to stop Hardeen. A tackle from the Jedi and the bounty hunter broke Anakin’s choke hold and turned it around.

Anakin flailed, sobbing, or trying to sob from his loss and humiliation and pain. 

Hardeen snarled over the pinned Anakin. “Kill me another day, kid, but not today.”

Anakin flailed again, trying to call on the stormy Force to break free and breathe, but Hardeen held him tight like steel bands as Anakin’s vision went gray.

Just as he passed out, Anakin thought he heard Obi-Wan whisper that  _he didn’t want Anakin to follow him into death._

When Anakin woke again on the duracrete plain, the smell of lift fuel stuck in his nose, his face was cold and wet from his loss.

He missed Obi-Wan more every hour.


	7. Vilomah:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin thinks that the abomination of Ahsoka's trial is over and they can escape back to the battlefields of the Rim. Where he can protect his Snips from honest dangers and backstabbing friends...
> 
> He's wrong.

Anakin waited outside the Judicial halls for his newly freed Padawan, nearly floating with happiness they would be reunited. He was going to happily grab her and fly to the nearest clanker army and tear them to bits.

Battle was less cruel than the shutta Darksider who could do that to a friend who  _loved_ her.

Ahsoka strode out of the prison, free at last, but far, far too quiet.

“Snips?” Anakin asked, his joy draining away.

“Hi, Skyguy. I’m glad that’s over...” She seemed to be looking for something to say.

Anakin didn’t care right now and grabbed her into an unmasterly embrace, swinging her around.

She hugged him back, but she was still closed up in the Force, too much like Hardeen had been.

His heart in his gut when they separated, Anakin forced himself to speak. “What’s wrong, my Padawan?”

He hoped it was small, but her feelings were still too muted and grieving.

“I’m not sure, Master.” 

But he could tell she didn’t want to say what it was.

He was afraid he would hate it.

They met with the High Council with them apologizing and making promises. Anakin was almost surprised how sincere they were, but their lack of faith in Ahsoka was disturbing.

He even glared at Obi-Wan, though he had been oozing frustration during this mess too.

“I’m not returning...” Ahsoka said in a small but steady voice.

Anakin almost stopped breathing.  _Noooooo!_

He didn’t even hear much of the talk, it was meaningless noise. He was losing his Padawan, his little sister. After thinking he’d lost his brother.

Soon he realized they were walking through the Temple toward their quarters. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were speaking about her plans and safe places like with Organa and Amadala, as well as personal items or equipment he would sneak her.

It all sounded so final, to lose her this way.

Another death.

Anakin stared at both of them, confused by their mellowing grief. “How can you leave me here without you? Please, don’t...” His voice was low and broken.

Ahsoka’s face twitched. “I’m not leaving you, Anakin. But I have to learn more who I am, not the Padawan accused by the Senate in haste, not the Padawan distrusted by the Masters, not the Padawan betrayed by my best friend. Those things should not have happened, people I always thought I could count on to be fair just...” At Anakin’s broken croak, she added, “Not you, not either of you. _**You**_ saved me and I could feel Master Obi-Wan’s support in dark hours through the Force.”

Obi-Wan gripped Anakin’s shoulder, his hair and beard still not full enough. “This is an unfortunate test that many Padawans face. My own Master left me in the middle of a civil war while he failed to finish a mission because of his own attachment. Master Yoda believed in me and sent my Master back to retrieve me. Even the Council can make mistakes, distracted by Darkness. Find your own balance and consider returning home when you can.”

Anakin stared at his Master, hearing important details he’d missed before, stunned enough to lose his purpose for a moment.

Ahsoka threw her arms around Anakin again. “I just don’t want to disappoint you. I don’t know if I can forgive the Council and Senate. They do such important things, but but they even went against all the rules I studied that are to protect the innocent. No professional advocate, trial before investigations were done, no appeals? Someone wanted me to die in the Senate. You were pressured by the Senate, weren’t you, Master Obi-Wan? Why the rush? How long do most trials like this take, years? If I can see that, why _won’t_ they? I’m not sure I want to be near that rancor pit again...”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “What if either one of you had been out on a battlefield? I’d have been executed by the Chancellor. Ha, from a peaceful world?”

Anakin wanted to protest that but he wanted her to stay. “I’ll go with you! We’ll have fun...”

She silenced him with a finger over his lips. “Hush, Skyguy, I need to become more than a disgraced Padawan first. And the war needs you… the 501st needs your protection, too.” She winked. “And your special friend, the Senator will miss your… repairing her droids, right? I’ll do okay, Skyguy.”

She packed a respectably sized rucksack with their help.

Anakin snuck credit chips of various worlds and denominations leftover from old missions into corners of her pack. He didn’t know what else to give her and he walked her to the Temple’s main entrance.

Some lines repeated but nothing new was said and he walked her out to the main entrance of the Temple to watch her disappear into the crowd.

He wanted to keep her,   
to go with her,   
to make everything better.

Everything was broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to find a word or phrase for this chapter to hold that feeling of loss when he lost his Padawan. While it's the teasing relationship of siblings, it also partakes in parental/mentor role- which happens for siblings too. I found a term that someone has proposed for parental grief like widow for spouses, whether disease or violence, or for Anakin darksider manipulations. We know they meet again in canon, but it affected him as strongly as if she died.
> 
> It is a grief I don't think anyone Anakin knew had gone through and would be able to help him with. Ben on Tatooine understood, but too late.


	8. Power:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything was broken, and any meaning in fighting for the kriffing Republic was gone. Anakin was determined to hold on to what he thought was important.

He walked into the acrid air of burning mining planet. Aching with exhaustion as the Seppie elite welcomed him. Like fatted shaak and nerfherders waiting to the dry season culling…

Nightmares of screaming and her death finally faded.

He’d given his fears to someone with the power…

And willingness to help him.

It was all about trading for safety with those who could offer it. He used to know that back on that hellhole. He traded his mechanical talent and growing racing skill for security and a generous owner.

Then he had no deal to protect his Mom. He’d abandoned her, chasing after glory and hollow words while no one was there to protect her from those animals.

_Moisture farmers?_

Weak fools scrambling to avoid the interest of the Hutts.

Now, he had the interest and patronage of the Emperor of the galaxy. The one with enough power to shelter or destroy anyone. 

All Ana…  _Lord_ Vader had to do is smash his enemies. His wife and child would have a quiet and safe life in the Core. No more assassins, no more blue death, no more sick old man to chain her into an arena to amuse a hive.

He could do that.

He could come home and cherish his family in peace.

He could try to forget how he bought this peace.

The words of the smarmy bastards faded into a buzz. He went through the motions of their welcoming Vader for a few minutes, half wondering if they even recognized him. A dark cloak didn’t change his appearance that much.

He doubted they could really tell the difference in his eyes.

Barely panting after the slaughter, Vader felt no qualms about their deaths. These beings wanted only profit and power over others. Their presences faded away into whatever hell or void they deserved. He had finished his second assignment from his old friend and new Master.

The one he was afraid of more than he wanted to admit. 

He didn’t have to like the new Emperor as long as his family was protected… as he bargained away so much more.

Vader felt a familiar presence in the approaching ship. He was glad to see her… them. His wife and child in a place he has made safe. 

She exited the sleek ship a brief distaste for the air, her face full of worry and concern Padmé asked things he didn’t want to talk about, didn’t want to have to justify, didn’t even want to be reminded. She was almost begging him to deny the winds of the storm and his place in them.

She could not understand how this would simplify and remove all their problems, that he was doing all these ugly things to protect them! How dare she scold him for breaking her heart when he had been crying in the desert alone at night for weeks!

A breath of a once beloved presence and he realized  _this was all a trap._

She brought yet  _**another** _ who would betray them…

_**Betray him!** _

The desert held a harsh justice for traitors, choking them in the sand and wind, leaving them for the sarlacc. There were no sarlacc here, but he could still demand vengeance from the traitors.

“Anakin”

Padmé crumpled to the ashy ground, no longer a factor in this confrontation.

“You turned her against me, traitor!”

“You didn’t need _**my**_ help for that.” He was not showing hatred… yet.

“You told her lies!”

“If you would like, we can go over what I said and I would be happy to correct any incorrect assumptions.” The Jedi was calm and sounded reasonable.

But Vader knew all his favorite negotiation tactics. “You shut up! You don’t negotiate with Darksiders.”

“Really? I recall getting yelled at by my Padawan for flirting with Ventress, and trusting her against Maul and his brother. A close friend was recovering from the damage from apprenticing to the Sith, Dooku. I spent how much effort protecting the Sith Lord from a kidnapping plot, damaging my beloved Padawan as a side effect? I’m not sure Grievous counts as a Sith as he was used as a weapon not taught and sheltered. He and Maul were mad anubas, not willing, or able to negotiate at all.”

Vader shook his head and presented his saber. “Stop that! You’re only here to kill me as a Sith!”

The Jedi sighed. “I was ordered to kill the new Sith apprentice. But I would prefer not to kill my former student.”

“As if you could! I have more power than any Jedi ever dreamed of.”

Kenobi darted a glance toward the transport and smirked. “Power is not everything. No one has as much power as the Force itself is. You are still only part of the whole, there is always something or something more powerful than you. ‘All for the want of a horseshoe nail.’”

“I have more power than you!” Anakin snarled.

“Then **why** do I still defeat you regularly in sparring? You know my… ‘tricks,’ you’re younger, faster, with more native power. Are you that positive I will not be able to defeat you, using some last resort tactic in this rebirth of a Sith Empire? Isn’t that what Jedi are supposed to do? Destroy all Sith on sight?”

Anakin looked away, doubting. “You’re messing with my head!”

“Maybe a little, from a certain point of view. But I am not asking you anything you do not already know. You’re just being pressured to act quickly without using the judgment and common sense of a former slave from Tatooine. Without the eye of an experienced General. Without the heart of the son of Shmi and beloved of Padmé. You are Anakin, and you should be a free man.”

“Free of the Jedi antiquated Code!”

“You can be free of the Jedi Code without being a Sith. I suspect there is little freedom from the Sith Code. There are many places in between the two.”

Anakin glared. “If you’re not here to kill me or some rendezvous with my wife, what are you doing here?”

“Maybe I just wanted to talk. Maybe I wanted to guard a Senator who gets in trouble often… Maybe I hoped I could connect one more time with one of my favorite people, my little brother who was a hero to me as well, before he disappears forever into the Dark. Maybe I wanted to offer my services in child-minding, I’m sure children of you and the Senator will be energetic and quite a handful.”

“You’re really not here to kill me?” It was getting easier to breathe.

“No, I’m really not. Oh, if you insist on a fight, I will defend myself, and I don’t believe the power of the Dark side makes as much an automatic win as Sidious is telling you. Many believed I should have died against Maul, Dooku, and Grievous, among others, yet here I am. And they are not.”

“You’re just stubborn...” That was almost a smile.

“That too. I want my brother back, whom I love dearly. Even if he makes dumbass decisions that no one who has ever loved him would want him to do. Come along, vod, your wife needs to see a healer.”

Remembering with a pang of guilt, Anakin spun to see that Padmé was sitting awkwardly on the ramp of her ship as their gold protocol droid was trying to apply bacta strips to her neck.

He remembered the slithery piece that ruled him at that moment and was horrified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anakin wants so very badly that it may warp reality around him. He rarely sees consequences enough to see the results of unrestrained wants. Or to quote someone who isn't from GFFA: _'After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting.'_

**Author's Note:**

> I realized how much of his life was framed by what Anakin wanted. He never really learned how to deal with not getting what he wanted to happen. 
> 
> I included a few Mando terms as both Obi-Wan and Anakin had years of exposure to that language and battle mindset, between Satine and the Clones. _Me'copaani_ means 'what do you want?'
> 
> This story is one of a series of SW stories drafted for NaNo2020 challenge. Reviews are wonderful presents for any story you've enjoyed.  
> \---  
> Star Wars is the property of Lucas and Disney. I do not own canon characters and plot referred to and I make no profit from writing this...


End file.
